


Bright is the Ring of Words

by whatthedubbs



Category: Marvel, Young Avengers
Genre: Because of Reasons, But all the Avengers know, Loki/Simon Clark [Bobby], M/M, Multi, Music Shop AU, Oh and they're all in their early twenties here, Teddy doesn't know he's an alien, Teddy plays the harp because he's too awesome for gender roles, There will be fluff, Until Billy finds out, Young Avengers don't know who Teddy is, and probably angst when Teddy discovers that he has powers, and runs a music store, so they all took up instruments so that they could keep him in business
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-03
Updated: 2013-06-03
Packaged: 2017-12-13 18:32:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatthedubbs/pseuds/whatthedubbs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Music Shop AU</p><p>Teddy runs the music shop his mother left him after she died.  He's got no idea that he's not entirely human.  That is, until Billy Kaplan wanders into his shop, and he learns that most of his customers are actually superheroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright is the Ring of Words

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DangerousCommieSubversive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DangerousCommieSubversive/gifts).



The Avengers gathered somberly around the long conference table.  They'd just come from the funeral of a woman.  Well, not a woman, technically.  But a friend. 

A door opens and shuts, and a man in a nondescript suit approaches the table and hands an envelope to Agent Coulson where he sits at the head of the table.  Coulson nods to the man, who leaves, before turning his attention to the long line of sober faces that are now looking at him.

"As you all know," he began softly, "Sarah Altman was killed by agents of a rogue Skrull faction three days ago."  The heroes arrayed around the table remained silent.

"Before she died, Mrs. Altman made two wills," he continued.  "One for the eyes of the public and her son," he tossed a copy of the document onto the table in front of him, "and another, for the eyes of SHIELD and the Avengers only."  He held up the envelope he had just been given.  "If there are no objections, I will read this second will now." 

He looked around.  The Avengers were nodding.  Satisfied, he opened the envelope and drew out the sheet within, unfolding it on the table before him and beginning to read.

" _The Last Will and Testemate of Sarah Altman, Once Princess and Heir to the Skrull Imperial Throne..."  
_

 

-X-

 

Teddy looked up at the sound of the shop bell.  He’d been sitting at the ancient leather-topped desk that his mother had used in lieu of a counter, pouring over accounts and bills and order forms and invoices for almost the entire day so far, and the prospect of a break sounded _amazing._  

“Hello?” he called, pushing back the chair and pushing his glasses back up his nose from where they’d been slipping. 

“Um.  Hi…” came the reply from the next room.  There was a pause, then: “This _is_ Altman’s Music, isn’t it?”

Teddy chuckled as he made his way out from behind the desk and into the next room.  “Yeah.  Sorry, I know it doesn’t look much like a music shop.”

He paused momentarily as he came around the corner and the prospective customer came into view.  The boy in front of him was small and willowy, with a mop of dark hair and brown eyes that looked up nervously through _impossibly_ long lashes.  He was wearing a tight henley and a pair of low-slung slim-fitting jeans that outlined a toned yet supple pair of legs that did _things_ to Teddy's mind.  Hot, red, _dirty_ things like...

He shook himself out of it. _No_. _Teddy. No fantasizing about the customers during work hours._ Breathing deeply and giving the boy what he hoped was his best smile, Teddy gave an awkward jerky wave of his hand and leaned against the doorframe, trying to look nonchalant.  "So, what can I do y- for you?" he inquired, internally patting himself on the back for restraining from the "you for" that had almost passed his lips.

The boy looked down and rubbed at the back of his neck, making his shirt ride up in a _very distracting_ fashion as he answered.  "Um, I was wondering if you gave lessons here?"  Teddy found his eyes zeroing in on the sliver of pale skin and well-defined hipbones and quickly made himself look away.

"Yeah, we do," he replied.  "Up to a point, I mean.  Right now it's only me and my assistant Kate teaching lessons, so we don't cover a whole lot of different things..." He found himself immitating the boy's neck-rub-look-down maneuver, and quickly let his arm drop.  "...Anyway, what do you play?"

The boy looked even more nervous than before, which made Teddy want to just give him a hug. _"_ Um, I don't actually..."

Teddy blinked.  "What?  Not at all?"

The boy shook his head.  "Nope."  The way his lips popped out when he said the word made Teddy's imagination _very_ interested.

"Oh. Um. Wow.  We don't get too many people like you here," Teddy observed to cover up his sudden embarassment.  "Um, why don't you come through to the office and we can figure out what you'd like to learn?"

The boy nodded and suddenly extended a hand.  "I'm Billy Kaplan, by the way.  Um.  Just so you know." 

Teddy took the offered hand, wincing as a spark of static jumped between them.  He shook it all the same, making sure to look Billy in the eye and smile reassuringly.  This he could do.  "Teddy Altman.  Good to meet you Billy."  He let go of the other boy's hand before things got awkward (he hoped) and led the way back to the office, where he immediatly groaned at how messy he'd left the desk.  "Sorry for the mess.  It's the end of the month rush, you know?"  he quickly scraped the papers into a disorganized pile that he knew he'd regret later, and pulled out the binder marked 'lessons.'  "Right, so.  Is there anything you're particularly interested in learning?" Teddy asked, flipping the binder open and pulling out the lesson schedule.

"Um, I'm not sure.  I thought it would be cool to learn the guitar for a while, but I'm not so into that anymore..." He looked up at Teddy, a slight flush on his cheekbones as if he was _embarrassed_ about not having picked an instrument beforehand, which just... _No._

"That's fine," Teddy reassures him quickly, reaching for the bottom desk drawer and drawing out a laminated sheet and passing it to Billy.  "That's the list of what we teach right now," he explains as Billy takes it from him.  "I teach mostly on the weekends, and Kate does her lessons on Wednesday afternoon."

The other boy looks up to give him a quizical look.  "Kate?"

Teddy nods.  "My co-worker-slash-apprentice.  She can be kind of terrifying, but she's nice once you get to know her, and she's a great string teacher.  Graduated from Juliard last year, I think."  He forces himself _not_ to read into the question, because even though he's only met him five minutes ago, he's not sure how well he'd handle Billy being into Kate.

Billy's eyes widen.  "Her name wouldn't be Kate Bishop, would it?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.  Teddy nods.

"Yeah.  Friend of yours?" 

Billy laughs and nods back, and Teddy blushes because he could listen to that all day long.  "Yeah, we met back in high school.  She _is_ terrifying.  Cool."  He looks back down at the sheet again.  "So, she teaches strings?  Like, violin and cello and stuff?"

"Yeah.  Why?  Thinking of taking up the violin?" he asks quickly to cover up the way his stomach clenches at the thought of Billy and Kate 'meeting.'

To his surprise, Billy shakes his head.  "Nah.  She tried to teach me once, but I'm just not cut out for it, I think." He looked back down at the list, and his brow furrowed.  Teddy bit his lip anxiously, wondering what had caught his attention.  _Please, don't let it be-_

"Harp?"  _Damn._ _  
_

"Yeah," Teddy admitted lamely, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck.  "I know it's not really the most _masculine_ instrument but..."

"It's cool."  Teddy looked up, surprised.  Billy shrugged.  "I mean, way to go.  Breakin' gender roles, all that jazz."  He flipped the card onto the desk and leaning back in his chair.  "Is it hard to learn?"

"Um..." Teddy stammered, wondering if this was really going to go where his subconscious hoped it was.  "I mean, it's not _hard,_ but it takes a while, you know?"  He let his arm drop back onto the desk and dared to meet Billy's eyes again.  "Why?  Are you thinking of learning?"

The other boy laughed nervously. "Yeah, why not?"

Teddy grinned back and pulled the schedule toward him.  "Awesome.  It'll be fun, I swear.  How does Saturday at three sound for a first lesson?"

 

-X-

 

Five minutes after the door had closed behind Billy, Kate sidled out of the kitchen, phone in her hand and a smirk on her lips.

"Well, it seems _somebody_ has a fan," she teased, as she handed her phone to him.  There was a message open on the screen.

 **NEW TEXT FROM:** Billy Kaplan -- _Ur boss is cute._

Teddy made a strangled noise and dropped the device on his desk.  "Oh my _God!"_ _  
_

Kate laughed and scooped her phone back up again as Teddy let his head fall down on the desk.  "What should I say back? Maybe 'He totally has the hots for you?'"

"No!"  Teddy jumped up and lunged for the phone as Kate skipped back out of reach.  " _Kate!"_

She chuckled and shook her head.  "Come on, Teddy.  You know I wouldn't do that," she said in a quieter voice.  "I just-" Her phone started buzzing in her hand before she could continue.  Looking down at it, she frowned, then shot Teddy a questioning look.  "Is it all right if I step out and take this?"

Teddy nodded and she flashed a smile at him before turning back to the kitchen and bringing the phone up to her ear.  "Hey-"

The door closed behind her, and Teddy groaned, slumping back in his chair.

 

-X-

 

In the kitchen, Kate turned on the kettle, and settled herself down where she could see the door before speaking.

"What's up, Billy?" _  
_

_"You didn't tell me your boss was an alien."_

"What the _hell-ass-balls?_ _"_ Kate hissed into the earpiece.  Sometimes Billy would try to mess with her just for fun, but he sounded serious this time.  "Are you serious?"

_"YES!  I'm serious!  I did the thing when I shook his hand, and it sparked, so..."_

"He's not human," Kate finished for him.  "Do you know what he is?"

 _"Not sure.  Shape-shifter of some kind.  Did you ever notice that he actually gets_ smaller _when he's embarrassed?"_

"Shit, no, I didn't."  She looked back toward the kitchen door and frowned.  "I wonder if _that's_ why a disproportionally-large percentage of our clientele are Avengers and X-Men?"

 _"Probably,"_ Billy said off-handedly.  _"Think I should ask him about it on Saturday?"_

Kate huffed in annoyance.  "No, I do _not_ think you should ask him.  And don't you dare tell me you asked him out.  You remember how badly that went _last_ time, don't you?"

She could almost _feel_ Billy wince on the other end of the line.  _"No, I did not ask him out_.  _For your information, he's giving me a sample harp lesson, so there."_

Kate rolled her eyes.  "Tell yourself whatever you need to.  Just try not to get too involved before we know more about him.  For what it's worth, I've never seen him do anything suspicious."

  _"Okay.  Good to know."_ Billy sounds contemplative, which normally means he's contemplating something unwise, but Kate holds her tongue because she doesn't feel like getting the 'You're Not My Mom' speech.  Apart from the redundancy of said speech, she'd feel guilty about depriving Teddy of the half hour of work she would not be getting done while Billy lectured her.  

"Yeah," she agrees non-comitally, standing to turn the kettle off.  "Let me know if you find anything.  I've gotta go back to work." 

"Okay."

The dial tone tells her that Billy's gone.  She idly wonders what he's planning to do about Teddy (she knows he won't just let it go; partly because he can't resist a mystery, and partly because Teddy is _totally_ his type, and Billy's been striking out in the superhero community since he got into college, and the prospect of a genuinely nice boy who might know about the whole mask-and-cape thing would be too good for him to pass up).

 She sighs, pours herself a cup of tea, and heads back to work.

 

-X-

 

Billy shows up on his doorstep promptly at three that Saturday, wearing a huge argyle sweater and a voluminous red scarf that trails like him like a cape. 

"Hi," he chirps in greeting, and Teddy can't tell if his cheeks are red from embarrassment or from the chilly wind that's been blowing all day.  _Probably just the wind,_ he thinks.

"Hey," he says, giving Billy a smile and stepping aside to let him in the door.  "Ready for your lesson?"

Billy looks him up and down, and now he's _definitely_ blushing from embarrassment.  "Um, I think so.  But I might be a little over-dressed..." he gestures at Teddy, who looks down at himself and realizes that he probably shouldn't have put on his Practicing-The-Harp-When-No-One-Else-Is-Around outfit for the first lesson.  An undershirt and yoga pants don't make him look very professional.

He gives a nervous laugh and waves Billy over to the stairs up to the second floor, where the studio is.  His mother set it up shortly after his dad died in the Gulf War so she'd have a place to practice away from the then-infant Teddy.  It still has her favorite photos up on the walls, and the carpet that he helped her haul home from a flea market when he was twenty. 

"Yeah, sorry about that," he appologizes, plucking a discarded sweater off a filing cabinet in the corner and pulling it on.  "I was practicing before you got here, just to make sure I wouldn't start you out with a crappy lesson." 

"Oh.  Okay.  I was worried you'd be like: 'How do you expect to play the harp dressed like _that?'_ and I'd have to go home and change or something," Billy says, looking relieved, but also a little disappointed for reasons Teddy forces himself not to speculate on.

"Oh no!  I mean, some people are like that, but not me.  You can totally wear whatever you want to our lessons," he says quickly, moving over to where he's set up his mom's old harp next to his in the middle of the rug.  "Um.  Anyway.  Let's get started..." he waved Billy over and gestured to the seat next to him.  "Before you do anything else with your harp, you have to learn how to tune it.  Now this is what we call a tuning hammer..."

 

-X-

 

The lesson goes fairly well, he thinks.  Billy's a little awkward, sure, but he's attentive and he's got the willpower to actually go slow and not constantly ask for shortcuts (like some other students Teddy had worked with). When they're done, he's quick to say that he'd like to give the harp a real try, which makes Teddy smile because he's never had a male harp student come back for a second lesson before.  He's so gratified he doesn't hesitate to tell Billy that he can come in on any weekday evening he has free to practice for as long as he wants.  Billy smiles at him as he stands on the doorstep, and it's all Teddy can do not to ask him to stay for dinner.  

 

-X-

 

"Hey, Kiddo."

Billy looks up at Simon and smiles distractedly.  "Hi Simon.  Thanks for coming on such short notice."

The older man shakes his head and waves his hand, as if brushing Billy's words away.  "Don't worry about it Kiddo.  So, what's up that you had to call your old mentor up at one in the morning?"

Billy cringes.  "Sorry!  I totally forgot about the time difference, my bad!  It can wait, if you-"

Simon cuts him off before he can finish. "Hey, I said not to worry about it Billy," he says, reaching out to ruffle Billy's hair because he knows it drives him crazy.  "You're my favorite little chaos wizard, I've always got time for you."

Billy huffs in mock indignation and makes a show out of finger combing his hair back into place.  "Thanks, I guess."  He lets his scowl hold for a few more seconds for the sake of appearances before letting it subside into a genuine smile.  "I wanted to ask you something."

Simon rolls his eyes at him, a look of mock surprise on his face.

"Why Billy Kaplan!  _You_ wanting to ask _me_ something?  Will wonders never cease?"

Billy laughs at him.  " _Ass,"_ he retorts, then sobers.

"Seriously though," he starts again, "I met this guy the other day-"

Simon leans forward, interest blooming across his features.  "Ooooh!  Was he _HOT?"_

Billy rolls his eyes and continues.  "Anyway, I did the thing you taught me.  You know, the little spark trick..."

"Uh-huh," Simon sits back again.  "And...?"

"He's an alien," Billy states, matter-of-factly.  "A shape-shifter, I think.  He kept _shrinking_ when he would get embarrassed about something."

Simon gave Billy a searching look.  "Any you want me to help you figure out how to get into his pants?  Because you know how badly that went last time-"

"YES!  I know!  I know!  That's not what I wanted help with.  I was wondering why Kate tells me that, like, half of the Avengers are in there at some point every week.  I mean, if he were closely associated with them, I'm sure we'd have found out about it, but I'm drawing a blank.  I can't even find photos of his parents."

Simon 'hmmm's' to himself.  "Can't say I can help you there, although I could ask around.  This kid got a name?"

"Teddy Altman."

Simon frowns.  "That _does_ sound familiar, for some reason.  I seem to remember-"  He stops abruptly, and looks up at Billy quickly.  "Kiddo, I'm pretty sure I shouldn't actually tell you this."

Billy frowns back.  "Come on, Simon, since when do you care about stuff like that?"

Simon sighs and sits back in the booth.  "It's not really my secret to tell, Kiddo.  I'd like to, really I would, but I'm sure that the powers that be would give me a serious ass-kicking if I did."

Billy pouts at him stubbornly, and Simon laughs quietly.  "Aww, come on, Kiddo.  If you really wanna know that much, you could always try scrying him.  Just don't tell anybody I suggested it."

Billy's face suddenly lifts, which earns him a chuckle and a clap on the shoulder.  "That's my little chaos wizard.  Just don't do anything dumb, okay?"

 

-X-

 

When Billy gets home that night, he puls out his scrying bowl and fills it from the sink.  Sitting down at the kitchen table, he lets his mind clear, then fills it with thoughts about Teddy, and his questions about his past.

\--

Half an hour later, he breaks out of the trance, looks blankly at the bowl for a second or two, and then slams a fist on the table so hard the water in the bowl sloshes over the edge and soaks his shirt.  He lets out a frustrated noise and mutters a quick phrase to dry it before stalking to the door and slamming it behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I wrote a thing. Or part of a thing.
> 
> No idea how long this thing is gonna be. I'm kinda wingin' it, even though I have a basic storyline down in my head.
> 
> Thanks to DangerousCommieSubversive for her character Simon, and for all of her YA-canons that I have used/am going to use. Seriously, go read her fics, they're WAY better than mine.


End file.
